Lovestotravel Posted August 26, 2019 Report Share Posted August 26, 2019 Going to the ABC islands in May 2020 on FOS. Have some ideas for excursions on the other stops, but not sure what to do on Curacau. Any suggestions? Think we will snorkel at Bonaire and St. Marteen, so maybe do something more on land for Curacau? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsFanBrian Posted August 26, 2019 Report Share Posted August 26, 2019 When I went a couple of years ago, we had a 14 hour stop, so we broke the day up into segments. In the morning, we did a bus tour which went to the Curacao distillery and then to a beach resort. We were back at the ship by early afternoon. We then walked into town and explored. The walk is easy and leisurely. You walk through an old fort on the way in which has been converted into a hotel, stores and restaurants. We loved the town. We started walking down all the side streets and came across a couple of courtyards at the end of some of them with food, bars, a nice cafe feel. Stopped and had a couple of beers and a snack at one of them. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the town. At night, the pastel colored building are lit up and has a very European feel. We really enjoyed it and would be happy to go back again rjac 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsFanBrian Posted August 26, 2019 Report Share Posted August 26, 2019 One more item, which you will likely be warned about on the ship. If you walk into town, you cross the Queen Emma bridge, which is a floating pontoon bridge designed to open up to let ships pass. If the bridge is open, there's no way to get past it until it closes again (there are ways, but you'd never get over to the other side in time). We were warned several times to leave plenty of time to get back to the ship, especially as we got closer to departure time, in case the bridge happens to open close to departure time. ChessE4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovestotravel Posted August 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2019 37 minutes ago, PatsFanBrian said: One more item, which you will likely be warned about on the ship. If you walk into town, you cross the Queen Emma bridge, which is a floating pontoon bridge designed to open up to let ships pass. If the bridge is open, there's no way to get past it until it closes again (there are ways, but you'd never get over to the other side in time). We were warned several times to leave plenty of time to get back to the ship, especially as we got closer to departure time, in case the bridge happens to open close to departure time. Thanks for the tip! We will pay attention to that for sure! Did you think the bus tour was worth it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsFanBrian Posted August 26, 2019 Report Share Posted August 26, 2019 "Worth it" is a relative term for everyone. I don't recall what we paid for it, but we enjoyed it. The bus ride to the beach included a guide to tell us about the island, I like the stop at the distillery which included a few ounces of taste testing. I checked the excursions and it was the Curacao Highlights and Beach Fun at $54/adult. For that price, we felt it was worth it. Part of your decision is how long you'll be in port. Since we were there for 14 hours (a very long stop by cruise standards), we knew we could do that excursion (4 hours) and still have more than enough time to do other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovestotravel Posted August 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2019 2 hours ago, PatsFanBrian said: "Worth it" is a relative term for everyone. I don't recall what we paid for it, but we enjoyed it. The bus ride to the beach included a guide to tell us about the island, I like the stop at the distillery which included a few ounces of taste testing. I checked the excursions and it was the Curacao Highlights and Beach Fun at $54/adult. For that price, we felt it was worth it. Part of your decision is how long you'll be in port. Since we were there for 14 hours (a very long stop by cruise standards), we knew we could do that excursion (4 hours) and still have more than enough time to do other things. We too will be there for a long day. 8am-8pm. So, all good information!! I get the impression that this stop is not one to consider doing a beach day at? Not as nice as the beaches of Aruba or St. Marteen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brobbins246 Posted August 27, 2019 Report Share Posted August 27, 2019 8 hours ago, Lovestotravel said: I get the impression that this stop is not one to consider doing a beach day at? Not as nice as the beaches of Aruba or St. Marteen? I haven't been to these islands yet, but will be on my next cruise, and from what I've seen on my research, that appears to be correct. Aruba and St. Maarten - nice sandy beaches, Curacao and Bonaire - more rocky/broken shell beaches. Bonaire has amazing diving and snorkeling just off shore by boat. Curacao is great for land/town exploration. Lovestotravel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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